Fitting in the Pieces
by jekkah
Summary: Set after the series finale, Mary and Marshall move on from each other when Mary takes a new job and Marshall follows through with his marriage plans. Can they their way back? *Warning for strong kid presence* There will be angst.
1. Mary's Story

_Author's Note: So, here it is, my next IPS story. I was going to wait until I got a few chapters written before starting to post this, but I got too excited. I figure this way you guys can tell me whether to give it up completely or keep trying. I hope you enjoy!_

**MARY'S STORY**

Mary glanced around the overly decorated reception hall. Everywhere she looked, she was assaulted with hearts, lights, and pink. It was exactly the type of wedding that she pictured the cheerleading detective would have. It was not, however, what she pictured her former-partner-now-boss-and-kinda-sorta-best-frien d-though-they-didn't-talk-outside-of-the-office-an ymore having. Mary supposed that was the point, though, that she no longer knew what type of wedding that Marshall Mann would want to have. She no longer knew much about him at all.

"Mary, we need to talk," Stan growled, startling her by seemingly coming out of nowhere. He didn't wait for Mary to respond before grabbing her arm and marching her out of the hall and into an empty room.

"Stan, what the hell?" Mary demanded when he finally released her.

Stan put his hands on his hips, the vein in his forehead visibly throbbing. "So, I just got an interesting phone call." Mary froze. "It seems that your transfer was approved. Here's the funny thing: I don't remember seeing a transfer request coming across my desk. So, you tell me, Mary, what the hell?"

Mary lowered her gaze to his collar. "I called in a few favors. Got around the chain of command."

"Why?"

"Why?" Mary repeated, stalling for time. She wondered if she could ever fully explain to her former boss and secret mentor the torment that she felt every time she drove around Albuquerque; how it felt that the entire city was closing in her; how she couldn't escape the ghosts of her past that haunted her at every turn. "There have been a lot of changes in my life lately, Stan. Some of them you know about; some of them you don't."

Stan rubbed his jaw. "Marshall hasn't mentioned anything."

Mary's face grew into stone and her voice flat. "Marshall doesn't know. I'm a big girl. I can live my own life."

"I didn't mean to imply otherwise," he told her, slowly, knowing to cautiously wade into Mary's emotional waves. "Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"It started with my dad dying and Brandi returning," Mary explained. She didn't want to tell him, but it was as if some unseeing force was propelling her to do so. "Things seemed to be settled for a few months after all of that, but… ever since then, it's been one disaster after another."

Stan sat down in one of the chairs and motioned for Mary to do the same. "Go on."

Mary rubbed her eye. "You know that Brandi came home pregnant, right?" She waited for Stan to nod before continuing. "She had a little girl, Teagan, in October. Motherhood… did not come easy to Brandi, and it only got worse after Mark moved to Atlanta in November."

"He got a job there, right?"

"Yeah. I needed to focus more attention on Norah's adjustment and I couldn't quite be there for Brandi the way that she needed." Mary took a deep breath. "I came home in the middle of December to find her in bed with Kenny."

Stan frowned. "Kenny? The guy you brought to my going away party?"

Mary nodded. "I knew he was scum. I just let myself get blinded by his charm after my father passed away. I mean, the first time he tried to pick me up, he used his kid."

"Ugh," Stan moaned.

"Yeah, well…" Mary's voice trailed off there. "Anyway, Brandi took off a few weeks later, leaving Teagan. It's been hard, Stan. Really hard. I mean, my mom's been helping, but the girls are nineteen and five months. They're really just too much for her all the time. And with these hours, you can see the problem."

"I thought Mark's mother was watching Norah?" he asked, confused.

Mary shot him a half smile. "She had to leave in September when Mark's sister found out that she was having twins." Mary paused, licking her lips. "This job, the one in Baltimore, it's protecting a judge in a courtroom. I'll hand her off to other marshals at the end of each day. I'll be home to make dinner for the girls every night and there's no weekend work. I have to make some changes for my kids."

Stan sighed, knowing she was right. He had reservations enough when it was just Norah, but throwing another one into the mix definitely complicated things. As much as it killed him to lose her from Albuquerque and from WitSec, it was the right choice for her situation. Still, one thing bothered him.

"Why didn't you discuss this with Marshall?"

"I-" Mary swallowed hard. It was the question that she had been dreading since Stan dragged her into the room. "You know that Marshall and I have redefined our friendship, right?"

Stan nodded, thinking about all the agonizing calls that he had received from Marshall last summer over the decision to put Abigail first instead of Mary as he had for the last nine years. "But you're still friends."

Mary shrugged so slightly that if Stan hadn't been watching her closely, he would have missed it. "Sure. The thing is that if I tell him about what's going on, he's going to want to fix it. You and I both know that Marshall can't just sit back. He had the wedding and Abigail. I couldn't bring him back into my problems." Mary brushed a piece of hair from her face. "I had a friend who owed me a favor and got me the posting. I figure that with Marshall out of the office the next month, it will be best to leave then. Less drama."

"Mary, he's going to be devastated," Stan countered.

"Not anymore," she whispered. Mary felt her ire grow when Stan opened his mouth to protest further. "Look, you can go in there and tell him, screwing the happiest day of his life and his honeymoon or you can let me handle this the way I want."

Stan rubbed the top of his head. She had backed him into a corner just as he should have known that she would do. There was no way he was going to screw up Marshall's day. "Fine. We'll do it your way, but I don't like it Mary. I think it's a crummy way to end a ten year friendship."

Mary sighed in relief. "Thank you. You know, Baltimore is pretty close to DC. We can have dinner." Mary's phone rang and she held up a finger. "Hello? Hi, Mom. No, it's fine. Well, did you take her temperature? Okay. I'm on my way. No, don't worry about it. I'll be home soon." Mary stood and waved good-bye as she continued to talk on the phone.

"Hey, have you seen Mary?" Marshall asked when Stan re-joined the festivities. "Abigail's about to throw the bouquet and really wants her to catch it."

"Um, yeah. Mary had to go home. Norah's not feeling well," Stan explained, his stomach dropping as he withheld the rest of the information from Marshall.

Marshall deflated slightly. "Oh. Well, I guess I'll just have to harass her when I get back. Can you believe it, Stan? An entire month of no responsibilities!"

Stan chuckled as Marshall bounced off. He hoped the younger man had a good time on his honeymoon. He was going to be blind-sided when he got back.


	2. Marshall's Story

_Author's Note: Special thanks to **ladypuercoloco**, **BravoExpressions**, **MegManning**, **Guest**, **Jayne** **Leigh**, **BrittanyLS**, **Adelled**, **Guest**, **JJ2008**, and **Guest** for the reviews! I'm so glad that you're all still around, enjoying and writing IPS fics! I didn't expect to have this chapter up so soon, but I was inspired._

**Marshall's Story**

Delia leaned against her the front of her desk, nibbling on her thumb nail. Her partner, Keith Tobias, watched her with mild interest while reviewing that morning's bulletins on the computer. This had been her morning routine since as long as he had gotten there. Delia jumped when the elevator opened and Marshall stepped out.

"Morning, boss!" Delia told him cheerfully, a basket of chocolate banana muffins in her hands. She held it out for him to take one. "How did it go last night?"

"It-" Marshall paused to swallow the bite of muffin that he had taken. "It was another rough night."

Delia's shoulders sagged. "Yeah, well, I'm sure it'll get better soon."

Marshall opened his mouth to argue, but was stopped by the ringing of his cell phone. "Hi, Stan."

"Hey, Marshall. How are things?" Stan asked.

"Okay, I suppose," he replied, waving to Delia to indicate that he was going to take the call in the office.

Stan hesitated before continuing. "Is Owen sleeping any better?"

Marshall sighed, running his hand over his weary face. "He's a three-year-old kid that lost both his parents and his home not even six months ago. He's having a hard time."

"Marshall." Stan stopped to gather his thoughts. Marshall's younger brother and his wife died in a car accident in January, leaving their three-year-old to Marshall. Marshall had told him that before the accident, Owen was a bright, bubbly child, but since then had become very quiet, rarely talking to anyone unless he was in the midst of a fit. Owen almost never slept longer than two hours at a time as he was prone to violent nightmares. It was taking a toll on both Marshall and his marriage.

Stan switched topics. "How's Abigail?"

"She, uh," Marshall cleared his throat, "she filed for divorce last month."

Stan cringed. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Marshall shrugged and turned his chair to face the wall, not wanting to risk anyone in the office seeing the pain on his face. "She's still young. She wants a family; a family that doesn't include a 'damaged' nephew."

"Owen is not damaged!" Stan said, emphatically. "He's just had a rough time."

"I know that, Stan," Marshall agreed, mildly amused at Stan's defense of his nephew. "Those were her words, not mine, and she was angry when she said it. I don't think she meant it. In any case, I told her that I wasn't ready to have any more children any time soon and that was that, sixteen months of marriage down the drain."

"If you need to take some time-"

Marshall huffed. "I can do my job."

Stan backtracked quickly. "I'm not saying that you can't. I'm just saying that you – and Owen – have been through a lot lately. You could take some time off to get situated with all of these adjustments, maybe head back home for a few weeks."

"I'm not exactly on speaking terms with my parents right now," Marshall growled. "My mother is having some issues with the fact that Charlie and Jennifer left Owen with me instead of her. She had a few choice things to say about how I'm raising him. My father, of course, sided with her. It's a big mess right now."

"Well-"

Marshall interrupted him again. "I'm fine, Stan. I don't need any time off. I'll let you know if I do." Marshall took a calming pause. "Now, I'm sure you didn't call out of the blue just to find out about my personal life. What can I do for you?"

Dreading the orders that he had to give, Stan asked, "Do you remember a witness, Ellen Davis, from a few years back?"

"Ellen Davis," Marshall repeated, searching his memory bank. "Yes. She's the one that discovered her boss embezzling funds, right? We spent the better part of a week trying to calculate the odds of a witness in the program innocently stumbling upon another crime that would have put her into the program."

"That's her," Stan confirmed. "The trial is finally being held so she's got to come back to Albuquerque."

Marshall turned around and shuffled some papers on the desk. "Just send the information and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. I'm assuming that her current marshals will be handling everything and we'll just be back-up."

"Not... exactly."

"What does that mean?" Marshall asked, instantly on alert.

Stan drummed his hands on his desk. He was dragging out the inevitable. "Now, keep in mind that this will only be for a few days; a week, tops. It seems that Ellen doesn't have the best relationship with her current marshals. She is insistent that she won't testify unless you and Mary are the ones protecting her."

Marshall nearly dropped his phone at the mention of his former partner and best friend's name. He hadn't heard from Mary in one year, four months, and seventeen days, not that he was keeping count. Not a single peep since she slinked off into the night while he was on his honeymoon. Stan and Delia took great pains not to utter her name in his presence. Even Abigail in her more incensed moments didn't throw Mary in his face. It was as if everyone in his life knew she was completely unmentionable.

"Oh," Marshall replied when he finally found his voice.

"Look, Marshall," Stan told him, plainly, "if you don't want to do this, I'll try to make a deal for just Mary. With everything that you've been going through, I don't want to add-"

Marshall waved his hand in the air. "It's fine, Stan. I'll do my job. Just send me the details." He glanced at his bottom drawer without realizing he had done so. "How did you get Mary to agree to come back?"

Stan chuckled, nervously. "I haven't yet. I wanted to make sure that it was okay with you before I broached the subject with her."

"Well, there will be no issues on this end. Just e-mail me the information. I'll remain professional," Marshall assured him.

"I know you will."

Marshall sighed. "Just, ah, just do me a favor and don't tell Mary about anything that's been going on in my life; you know, about Abigail or Owen. I would rather just keep that private."

Stan rubbed his eyes. "Not a problem, Marshall."

"Was there anything else that you needed or..." Marshall's voice trailed off.

"That's it. I'll be in touch soon with the details," Stan confirmed. "And Marshall, if there's anything you need, even if it's just someone to vent to, don't hesitate to call me."

Marshall quickly said his good-byes and hung up the phone. His mind whirled with thoughts; thoughts of Mary, thoughts of Owen, thoughts of Abigail, and a million other things. He must have say there longer than he realized as Delia popped her head into the office with an overly bright smile.

"Everything okay, chief?" she asked, her tone as chipper as ever.

Marshall looked over at her, his eyes glazed. "I'm not sure."

Delia fully entered the office and sat down. "What do you mean?"

"Mary's coming back."

"What?" Delia's question contained an interesting mix of surprise, confusion, excitement, and anger that nearly made Marshall smile.

He settled for shrugging instead. "It's just for a few days. We have a witness coming to testify for a trial, She's demanded that Mary and I handle security or else she won't testify."

Delia leaned forward sympathetically. "Are you okay with that?"

"I'll have to be." Marshall grabbed a pen and began to work on the stack of papers in front of him, indicating that the conversation was over. He watched discreetly as Delia made her way back to her desk. As if his life wasn't complicated enough already, the fates had dealt him a striking blow. Only time would tell if it proved to be fatal.


	3. Mary's Drawn In

_Author's Note: Special thanks to **MegManning, BrittanyLS, Guest, thena-ditey, JJ2008, Adelled, ladypuercoloco, Jayne Leigh **(I love the enthusiasm!)**, BravoExpressions, **and** mypompandceremony** for the reviews! Updates may be slow in coming, but I promise you'll get them!_

**Mary's Drawn In**

"I told you this would be an earlier day," Daphne Turner told her deputy as the walked from the courtroom towards the parking lot. "You'll be able to get home to your babies before dinner."

"I'm always home before dinner, Judge," Mary shot back. "It's one of the perks of this job; no action and home by dinner."

Daphne laughed. "Mary, you've been working for me for how long now?"

Mary eyes slid briefly down. "About fifteen months."

"Don't you think it's time to start calling me Daphne?"

"Not a chance, Judge," Mary replied, causing Daphne to titter.

Daphne turned when another person walked up to them. "Oh, good, Todd, you're here. Are we ready to go?"

Todd, a tall, burly looking deputy, nodded once. "The car is secure. We're waiting on you, Daphne."

"You see, Mary, not everyone has a hard time calling me by my first name," Daphne said, handing her briefcase over to Todd.

"Yeah, well, I've always said those DC boys weren't worth much," Mary teased, silently chuckling to herself when she saw Todd bristle. "It's why I chose a post in Baltimore." She looked at Todd and shrugged an apology. Her days were spent watching over the judge in the courtroom only to hand her off to Todd and his partner in the evenings. They had built a rapport over the last year so Mary knew he wouldn't really be insulted by the things that came out of her mouth.

"Anything we should know about?" Todd asked, slipping into his all business tone. Mary shook her head. "Okay, then. Are you ready, Daphne?"

Daphne nodded. "Good night, Mary. See you bright and early on Monday."

Mary watched, her eyes alert for any suspicious activity, as Todd escorted Daphne out of the building. As far as marshaling jobs went, this one wasn't bad. It lacked the excitement of her previous positions, and in particular, she missed the interaction with her witnesses, but the stability of being home every night and having weekends off was something she couldn't pass up, not with having two little girls at home. Besides, other than being a bit perky, the judge wasn't bad to work for.

Turning at the sound of her name being called, Mary was surprised to see her former boss walking toward her. Mary smiled, widely. "Stan! What are you doing here?"

"Mary, it's good to see you," Stan replied, grabbing her in an uncharacteristic hug. "I was in the area and thought I would try to catch you for a visit." He shifted, nervously. "How are things? How are the kids? They must be getting bigger. How old are they now?"

"Norah's a month shy of her third birthday and Teagan has... about three until her second. They're doing good," Mary told him. "Norah has really taken to being a big sister."

Stan nodded. "Have you heard from Brandi?"

Mary frowned, becoming stiff. "Not a word." She sighed. "I'm sure you didn't come all the way down here just to check up on me. You could have done that on the phone. What's going on, Stan?"

Stan looked around before pulling her into a small, empty room. "You're being reassigned." Stan threw his hands up when she began to protest. "Temporarily! It should only be for about a week."

"For what?"

Stan ran his hand over his balding head. "I need you to escort a witness to a trial."

She huffed, putting her own hands on her hips. "I don't do that anymore, Stan. I'm no longer an inspector."

"I know, I know," Stan placated, "but this witness refuses to testify unless you're her marshal."

"Who is it?" Mary demanded.

"Ellen Davis."

Mary groaned. Ellen David was a particularly clingy witness that managed to get herself into scrape after scrape. In the short seven months that Mary was her marshal, she had had to move her to three time and find her a new job twice. Though she wished it had been under different circumstances, Mary could not say that was saddened to see Ellen go in the least.

"She's insisting that you and Marshall be the ones to protect her while she's in Albuquerque," Stan explained further. He continued to talk, ignoring her paling face. "She's threatened to not testify at all if you don't. You know how important this trial is."

"Yeah, I know," Mary replied, quietly.

Stan massaged the back of his neck. "I hate to pull you away from the kids, but it's only for a few days, a week at the tops. I-" He stumbled over his words here. "I arranged it so that you and Marshall will only be responsible for her during the day at the courtroom. Her regular marshals will watch over her at night."

Mary studied her fingernails as if she was inspecting them for dirt. "Have you talked to Marshall about this? Is he on board?"

"Yes. He says that he will do his job."

"Of course." Mary closed her eyes, briefly. She could almost hear him telling Stan that. Her heart filled with dread over the thought of returning to Albuquerque. She hadn't stepped foot back there since she left; hadn't talk to anyone from there. She hadn't even let Stan provide her any updates on anyone there. Mary wanted that part of her life to be over and done with. Still, she was never one to shuck her duty. "When do I leave?"

Breathing out an audible sigh of relief, Stan answered, "Monday morning. I'll stop over tomorrow with all of the details."

Mary shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to. Besides, it'll be nice to see Jinx and the girls. It's been a long time," Stan pressed.

"In that case, why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night? Jinx has been taking a cooking class and she'll be happy to have someone new to experiment on." Mary nearly laughed at the startled look on Stan's face. "Don't worry. As long as she stays away from Indian and Mexican, she's actually pretty good."

Stan grinned. A more positive Mary was something that he had had to get used to, but she really did seem to be making an effort to stay upbeat for the girls, which included being kinder to her mother. "I would love to."

Mary firmed up their plans before heading home. Her entire drive consisted on flashes of memories of her time spent in Albuquerque. She thought of diners and rings, of baseball games and deserts. She was nearly crippled by remembrances of Marshall. She found that she could not think of a single flaw in his character as so often happens when time goes on, but it only served to make her angry.

"Mommy's home!" Jinx exclaimed when Mary walked into the house. The smell of roast filled the air.

"Mommy!" Norah squealed. She raced towards Mary at top speed, her dark blond hair in pigtails.

Mary picked her up and covered her in kisses. "Hi, Bug. Did you have fun today?"

Norah nodded. "Gramma took us to the pool today with Mr. Bill."

"Wow, Mom," Mary whistled, "that's like twice in the last week. This must be getting serious."

"Oh, stop!" Jinx waved her off and headed toward the kitchen with a decidedly red tinge to her cheeks.

Mary put Norah down and craned her neck, looking for Teagan. The little girl stood just around the wall in the hallway, peeking out with her rich, brown eyes. She had her thumb in her mouth, a habit that neither Jinx nor Mary had been able to break her of. Mary held her arms open. "Come here, Angel."

Teagan toddled to her. Despite her dark brown hair and brown eyes, she was the spitting image of Brandi. Mary felt the familiar ache in her chest as she looked at her niece. Teagan sighed as Mary hugged her. "Mama."

"How's my girl?" Mary asked, kissing her forehead.

"Teagan wouldn't go in the big pool," Norah tattled, trailing after Mary as she made her way to the kitchen for dinner. "She cried."

Mary was quiet as Norah and Jinx blabbered on about their day during dinner. Only Teagan remained quiet, sitting in her boaster. Mary was so preoccupied with thoughts of Albuquerque that the other three were done before she even had a quarter of her plate gone.

"Okay, what's going on with you?" Jinx asked, clearing away plates. "You're a million miles away tonight."

"I know," Mary apologized. "I just... I have a little announcement. I have to go on a special assignment on Monday. It'll only be about a week, but I'll be out of town," she took a deep breath, "back to Albuquerque."

Jinx gasped. "Oh, Sweet Pea. What are you going to do?"


	4. Meeting of the Awkward Kind

_Author's Note: Special thanks to **Guest, Adelled, BrittanyLS, JJ2008, Guest, BravoExpressions** (the name "Teagan" came from a high school friend who named her daughter that. I completely fell in love with it), **Jayne Leigh, Guest, Guest, pandorabox82, **and** Guest** for the reviews. I know that there have been some concerns about updates, but rest assured, I will not abandon this fic. I can't say that updates will be often, though, between family, work, and other fic commitments. _

**Meeting of the Awkward Kind**

Her heart was thumping.

It had been best increasingly faster from the moment she met Ellen and her marshals, Reilly and Matchar, in Detroit. Now, as she stood in the back of the elevator on the way up to the Albuquerque WitSec office, Mary thought it might explode completely out of her chest. Outwardly, she appeared cool, calm, and collected as she checked the e-mails on her phone, but inwardly, her butterflies had butterflies.

"It must be weird being back," Ellen commented over her shoulder to Mary.

"Not really," Mary replied, taking great pains to keep her tone nonchalant.

Ellen looked unconvinced. "If you say so. I just know that I would feel a little weird coming back to my old stomping ground."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you're not me and I'm fine."

Ellen opened her mouth to say more, but snapped it shut again when the elevator doors opened. Mary grabbed her shoulder to stop her from stepping forward, letting Reilly and Matchar go first. Only once they were clear did Mary let Ellen go. Mary followed behind.

"Mary!" Delia squealed, rushing past the others. She pulled Mary into a hugging, ignoring Mary when she tensed. Delia let her go, but kept a hand on her arm as if to keep her there. "How are you? How's Norah? I bet she's getting big!"

"I'm doing good. So are the girls," Mary told her, offhand.

Delia gave her a strange look. "The girls?"

Marshall chose that moment to emerge from his office, drawing attention away from Mary. His eyes locked briefly with Mary's and the entire office came to a standstill. Mary quickly glanced out the window, unable to stand Marshall's scrutiny. He turned his attention to the others, making introductions.

"Right this way," Marshall directed, leading the group into the conference room. He sat down at the head of the table and waited for the others to take their places. It did not escape his notice that Mary sat as far away from him as she could.

"We were told that you have a game plan for how to handle this," Matchar stated, folding his podgy hands in front of him.

Marshall nodded, swallowing hard. "From what the DOJ told us, Inspector Shannon and I are to be the primaries during the trial with you and the marshals from my office as back-up." Reilly and Matchar both nodded. "We have three rooms at the Marriott in town, a few blocks from the courthouse. Reilly, you are to stay in the middle room with Ellen; Matchar and Shannon on either side.

"Each morning, I will call with a new breakfast location to meet. Delia and I will meet all four of you there. After breakfast, Shannon and I will then take Ellen to the courthouse. Reilly and Matchar, I want you to follow us to the courthouse and wait until we give the all clear before returning to the hotel to rest. At the end of the day, we'll call with a new location to meet for dinner and do the exchange in reverse. The only time that there should be only one inspector with Ellen is when she is ensconced in her hotel room for the night. Any questions?"

"Sounds good, Chief," Delia commented, when no one else spoke up.

Marshall gave her a faint smile before looking at Ellen. "How are you holding up?"

Ellen shrugged. "I'll be glad when this is all over."

"Won't we all?" he muttered, racking the tension back up in the room.

"Hey, Marshall?" Keith called out, sticking his head into the conference room. "Your nanny is on the phone. She says it's important."

Marshall cringed. "Tell her I'll be there in a minute." He stood. "Now, if there's nothing else, Delia and Keith will escort you to the hotel."

Jumping up to grab Mary, Delia looped her arm with Mary's. "Mary, why don't you ride with me and Keith can ride with the others. It'll give us a chance to catch up."

"I, uh, sure," Mary agreed, feeling as though she had entered alternate universe. Marshall had a kid. That phrase just kept repeating in her head over and over. Marshall had a kid. More to it, Marshall had a kid with Abigail. Abigail and Marshall had a kid. She wasn't sure exactly why she was stuck on that. It made sense that they would have a kid now that they were married. She and Marshall may not have talked about it a whole lot, but she knew he always wanted to be a father.

"Mary?" Delia asked, softly. Mary blinked rapidly, her attention drawn back to Delia. "We need to actually step onto the elevator in order to go down.

Mary rubbed her forehead. "Right."

Much as with the ride up, Mary was closed off on the way down, standing in the back of the elevator and not engaging with anyone. Stepping outside, she once again became focused solely on Ellen's safety, not relaxing until Ellen was tucked into the car.

"So, Mare," Delia started when they pulled out of the parking lot, "did I hear you correctly back in the office? Do you have more than one daughter now?"

"Marshall has a kid?" Mary blurted out without meaning to. She thought about taking it back as it shouldn't be any of her business, but her curiosity was too strong. She swung her head to look at Delia. "Well?"

Delia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm not really supposed to talk to you about him. He didn't really want you knowing anything about his life."

That hit Mary straight in the chest. She expected Marshall to be angry that she walked out of his life, but she hadn't expected him to cut her out of his life completely. This was Marshall, who always took care of her, who always made sure that had had everything she needed. "Tell me what you need" - isn't that what he always said to her.

"Mar-"

"No," Mary interrupted, forcing herself to push away her thoughts. "I get it. It's really none of my business anyway. What was it that you asked me?"

Delia flashed her a reassuring smile. "I just wanted to know why you mentioned that 'the girls' were fine when you were in the office. Did you have another baby?"

Mary shook her head. "What? No. God, no. Going through pregnancy once was enough. No, I was referring to my niece, Teagan. She, uh, lives with me so they're the, uh, 'girls', you know?"

"Does Brandi live with you, too?"

"Um," Mary stalled, debating whether or not to tell Delia everything, especially in light of Marshall's policy of no personal information. On the other hand, she hadn't been able to talk to anyone about this since Jinx just broke into tears every time Brandi was mentioned and Mary had no other friends. Mary took a deep breath. "No. Brandi took off when Teagan was just three months old. We haven't heard from her since. You know, at first, I kept hoping that she would change her mind and come back, but..." Mary's voice trailed off. "Teagan is my daughter just as much as Norah."

Delia grinned at the conviction in Mary's voice. "What's she like?"

Mary chuckled. "She's shy and quiet. I have no idea where she gets that from. She likes to sit back and observe the room before joining in, unlike Norah who jumps right in with both feet and figures out how to get out of trouble later. Norah is my daredevil and Teagan is the one trailing after her. But, make no mistake, Norah is fiercely protective of her little sister."

"She must take after you," Delia said, kindly. She put the car into park. "I'm glad you're back, Mary, even if it's only for a few days. I think Marshall is glad, too, even if he won't say it. We – he – has missed you a lot." Delia grabbed the door handle. "You should try to talk to him."

"We'll see," Mary replied. She got out of the car. "We'll see."


	5. Courtroom Surprises

_Author's Note: Special thanks to **Sparky She-Demon, JJ2008, Jojo, BravoExpressions, Adelled, BrittanyLS, pandorabox82, raye, Jayne Leigh, Guest, The Rising Phoenix, **and** Guest** for the reviews!_

_So, I struggled with this chapter a lot. I tried repeatedly to write the action part and just couldn't do it so I hope you'll forgive me. I needed this chapter to get to the rest of the story. Thanks, as always, for reading!_

**Courtroom Surprises**

Mary was getting frustrated.

They had been there for four days already and Marshall hadn't once attempted to take to her. Well, that wasn't exactly true. When it came to Ellen and her protection, he spoke to her... in short, concise sentences. When it came to any downtime, such as their daily breakfasts and dinners, he was completely tight-lipped. And it was driving her crazy.

Pacing the hotel room, Mary ran a hand through her hair. She had prepared herself to ignore Marshall; she had not prepared herself to be ignored by Marshall. It had put her off her game, left her uneasy and slightly frightened. But Mary didn't like to feel afraid so she turned it around to anger. Unfortunately, the current set-up left her little opportunity to unleash her anger as they were either at the courthouse, a restaurant, or she was left alone in her hotel room.

A knock on the door pulled Mary away from her thoughts. She double-checked that she had her gun and badge before leaving the room. She was quiet on the way to the diner as she had been the previous three mornings. Mary sensed a change as soon as they entered the diner. Instead of Delia's smiling face greeting them, it was Keith's nervous one.

"Where's Inspector Mann?" Matchar asked.

"He, uh, had a phone call that he needed to take," Keith replied. He fiddled with his silverware. "Delia had a situation come up so I'm filling in for her."

Matchar nodded before sitting down. They placed their breakfast order with the waitress. Reilly and Keith made a half-hearted attempt to get a conversation going, but when it was clear, through Matchar's annoyance, Ellen's nervousness, and Mary's aloofness, that no one was interested, they, too fell silent.

Marshall came back to the table looking frazzled. It was easy to see that he was stressed and hadn't slept well. He ran his hand through his hair, refusing to sit down. "Something's come up and I need to change plans."

"Everything okay, boss?" Keith asked.

"Yeah," Marshall brushed off. "Keith, I need you to go with Ma-, uh, Inspector Shannon today. Things have been quiet. I don't anticipate any problems."

Mary watched as Marshall ran over the day's procedure with Keith. It was very rare that he shuck work off on someone else so whatever was going on must be something important. At least, it used to be rare. She couldn't imagine that he had changed all that much since she had last been in Albuquerque.

"Any objections?" Marshall asked, signaling the end of his conversation with Keith. Mary desperately wanted to object, just to be a thorn in his side, but she could find no reason to. If Marshall trusted Keith, then she would have to trust him; at least as far as work went. That, she was sure was one area that Marshall hadn't changed.

When no one objected, Marshall left the diner. Mary felt oddly abandoned by his absence. Her emotions were all over the place and she hated it. She wanted nothing more than to be back home in Baltimore with her girls, where life was straight-forward and she could ignore all these feelings.

As soon as they entered the courthouse, Mary was hit with a wave of apprehension. She couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but the atmosphere just felt different. The air was heavy as if it was anticipating something, but what that something was, Mary wasn't sure.

"Hey, Kevin," Mary said to Keith in a low voice.

"Keith," he corrected.

"Whatever," she muttered, rolling her eyes. Mary swept the courtroom as they took their seats. "Does anything seem off?"

Keith followed her lead and studied the room as the defense attorney began to question Ellen. He looked at Mary with a shrug. "Nothing."

Mary sighed, settling into her seat. She kept a sharp eye on things as Ellen dutifully answered questions. She found herself annoyed that Marshall wasn't sitting next to her. He would know if what she was sensing was simple paranoia or if there was truly something going on.

Within fifteen minutes, she'd have her answer.

IPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIP SIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPSIPS

"Mary! Are you okay?" Delia shouted, running up to her former partner.

Mary looked up from her seat in the back of the ambulance. "Yeah, I'm fine. So's Keith, but I think that's more dumb luck then anything else."

Delia nodded. She liked her partner, but he was a bit on the naive side. "What happened?"

"I had a bad vibe from the moment that I stepped into the courthouse. I couldn't put my finger on what it was so I chalked it up to paranoia that Marshall wasn't there." Mary cringed when she saw the slight grin grace Delia's lips. She hadn't meant to let that slip. Clearly, guarding the judge back home and spending so much time with the girls was making her soft. "Anyway, I asked Keith about it, but he didn't think anything was wrong. We were about twenty or twenty-five minutes into Ellen's testimony for the day when all hell broke loose. Two men stood up from the back and began shooting. A third man entered from the judge's chambers. I hurt my wrist clamoring over people to get to Ellen. Keith and I returned fire and took them all down, but not before they killed Griffith, the assistant prosecutor, and Griffith's wife when she tried to get to Griffith. They also injured the judge, two jury members, and the defense attorney. There were a few other injuries from people trying to escape. Albuquerque PD is taking over the case."

"Yeah, I've already talked to them." Delia frowned. "Ellen's been moved. She's shaken, but also relieved."

"I guess so. With Griffith dead, she no longer has to testified." Mary ran her hand through her hair, careful of the ace bandage that wrapped her sprained wrist. "Are they going to move her completely as a precaution?" She held up her hand when Delia hesitated to replied. "Never mind. I know you can't answer that."

Delia ran a comforting hand over Mary's upper arm. "I guess you'll be leaving us."

Mary nodded. "My flight's booked for tomorrow afternoon. I just have to write up reports for you guys and for Albuquerque PD and I'll be done."

"Okay, well, I can take you back to the office to-"

"Where is Marshall anyway?" Mary interrupted. "He's the big boss now so shouldn't he be here sorting everything out?"

Delia flinched. "He has some things going on right now and needs to be at home."

Mary put her hands on her hips as a way of red hot anger swept through him. "What in the hell could be more important than this right now? Oh, wait, don't tell me. Abigail heard I was back in town and has forbidden him to be anywhere near me."

"That's not-"

"Forget it. This is why I didn't want to come back. I don't want to get involved in all of this petty B.S. I let him go. That was supposed to be enough." With that, Mary stormed off, leaving Delia stunned. Mary stomped over Keith, rescue personnel running out of her way as she went. She bullied him into giving her the keys to his truck.

When she arrived at Marshall's house, she was surprised to find the yard littered with toys. Marshall was always meticulous about his yard. Still, Mary only pondered this for a moment before the reason for visit whooshed back into her brain. She pounded viciously on the front door with her fist.

Mary raised a finger to begin to shout at Marshall as he opened the door, only to be stopped by a blood-curtailing scream coming from inside.


	6. Tantrums and Fights

_Author's Note: Special thanks to **Sparky She-Demon, Adelled, Jojo, ladypuercoloco, Meg, BrittanyLS, JJ2008, Jayne Leigh, **and** pandorabox82** for the reviews! I hope this confrontation doesn't disappoint. It won't be the last!_

**Tantrums and Fights**

"What the hell was that?" Mary demanded.

Marshall didn't answer her, but turned and raced to his kitchen. Mary followed close behind him. She stopped in the doorway, surprised by what she saw. On the table lay spilled chocolate milk and a child, no more than four or five, had thrown himself on the floor, flailing his arms and legs as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WNADSOSCRUFF!" the boy yelled.

"Owen!" Marshall said, sharply, trying to pick him up. "Ssh, Owen. It's okay. Tell me what's wrong."

Owen continued to throw his fit, seemingly oblivious to Marshall's attempts to sooth him, repeating, "WNADSOSCRUFF!"

Mary glanced from the scene on the floor to the table where there was a plate containing a sandwich. She suddenly realized what Owen was carrying on about. "He wants his crusts cut off."

"What?" Marshall hollered.

"He wants his crusts cut off," she replied, patiently.

Unable to completely comprehend what she was telling him, "he repeated, "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Mary snatched the plate from the table. She marched over to counter where the knife that Marshall had used to make the sandwich and cut off the crusts. She knelt down beside Owen. "Here you go, kid. The crusts are cut off."

Owen looked up at her with his big, blue eyes. He slowed his breathing back to normal and sat up, taking the plate from Mary. "Thank you."

"Sit at the table, buddy," Marshall directed, standing up. He helped Owen settle and cleaned up the spilled milk before turning to Mary. "How did you know that's what he wanted?"

"I have two girls at home, Marshall," she answered. "I've been through a few tantrums."

Rubbing his temple, he replied, "Two... girls?"

Mary looked at him, startled. "Delia didn't tell you?"

"I haven't-" He cleared his throat. "I haven't talked to Delia about you."

"Oh." That truth hit her harder than she expected, but she was unwilling to examine it any further standing in the middle of Marshall's kitchen. "Brandi took off and left her kid with me."

Marshall frowned. "Before or after you left Albuquerque?"

Mary lowered her head. "Before."

"Right." His response was tinged with anger as his earlier gratefulness abated with the reminder of her flee from Albuquerque and from him. "What are you doing here, Mary?"

"I came to talk to you." Her own ire rose with his. "Where the hell were you today? You sent me with a rookie, a damn kid! Were you trying to get me killed? That's it, isn't it?"

"What?" Marshall exploded. He grabbed Mary's arm to drag her out of the kitchen when Owen jumped. "How you could you even think that?"

Mary shrugged. "What else am I supposed to think?"

Marshall flung his hands from his head in disbelief. "You were my best friend! I spent years trying to protect you! I didn't walk away from you, Mary! You walked away from me!"

"I wasn't the one who stood on the balcony and destroyed our friendship," she replied, calmly. In the back of her head, she marveled over their switch roles, where she was normally the one yelling and he was the one being annoyingly cool. Things had really changed over the last year or so.

"Destroyed our friendship?" His eyes widened so much that Mary was actually afraid of a split second that they might pop out of his head. "All I did was ask you not to call me all the time!"

"No." Mary held up a single finger, surprised to find tears in the back of her eyes. "What you said was 'I need you to release me' so that's what I did. I released you. I let you go."

Marshall stumbled backwards a step. "That's... that's not... That's not what I meant and you know it."

Mary shook her head, looking away. "You wanted me out of the way because Abigail was insecure. At least be man enough to admit it since you could be man enough to be the one to walk away from me."

That shot a spark of fire back into Marshall and he turned to her, his eyes blazing. "I never wanted to walk away from you! I just couldn't make you number one in my life anymore when I was never number one in yours! You twisted my words around to justify once again running away just like you do _every single tim_e things get tough!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she shot back. "I'm the one that sticks around! I raised my sister, took care of my drunk of a mother. I have two little girls at home depending on no one else but me because I'm the only one that bothered to stick around for them!"

"And yet you've always run from me, Mary!"

"When?" Mary challenged.

"After I got shot," he replied. "After I helped you through your panic attacks after your kidnapping. Faber. Every time we got close, you ran as fast as you could in the other direction! You may have stuck around for your family, but you sure as hell never stuck around for me." Marshall took a deep breath. "What are you doing here, Mary? What could you possibly want from me?"

Mary stilled, studying, really studying, her former partner for the first time since she returned to Albuquerque. He looked older to her, though his hair wasn't any grayer and she couldn't see any new wrinkles. There were dark circles under his eyes; they reminded her of the ones that she had when Norah and Teagan were both infants and she slept for no longer than three hours at a time for months. His blue eyes held no spark, no joy. Mary turned from him, taking in the living room. She could see trucks and blocks scattered everywhere along with Marshall's and Owen's clothes. There were piles of shoes near the front door, but not one was a woman's.

"Where's Abigail?" she asked, quietly.

"What?" Marshall said, bewildered. "I don't really think Abigail is-"

"No!" Owen screeched from the doorway of the kitchen. "No, Aunt Abby! No!"

Mary watched in amazement as Owen tore through the living room, throwing any item that he could get his tiny hands onto across the room. Marshall followed close behind him trying to simultaneously clean up the thrown items and prevent Owen from tossing new ones. The result was an even bigger mess. Owen screamed so loud that Mary could hardly believe that the police hadn't shown up at the door already.

Owen had just reached the dvd stand when Marshall's cell phone rang. He glimpsed at it, briefly, and said with a sigh, "It's Stan."

"Take it. I'll get him," Mary promised. She stepped over to Owen when Marshall hesitated and snatched him up. Marshall stepped into the hallway. Owen punched and kicked her as she brought him to the couch, but Mary held onto him until he stopped fighting her. "See, kid, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"Huh?" Owen asked eying her suspiciously.

Mary chuckled. "Why were you throwing stuff around?"

Owen's blue eyes narrowed. "I don't want Aunt Abigail to come back."

That was definitely an interesting development, Mary thought to herself. She opened her mouth to say more, but was stopped by Marshall returning to the room. His face was pale. "What did Stan want?"

"I've been suspended."


	7. A Marshall's Confessions

_Author's Note: Special thanks to A**delled, pandorabox82, Sparky She-Demon, BravoExpressions, Guest, BrittanyLS, **and** JJ2008** for the reviews! The real story that I want to tell begins here._

**A Marshall's Confessions**

"You what?"

Marshall stumbled to the couch, flopping down with such force that the couch shook. "I got suspended."

Mary put Owen down, whispering in his ear to go play with his toys. She turned to Marshall. "Why?"

"For the same reason that you came to ream me out!" he replied, angrily. Forcing himself to take a calming breath, he continued, "They want to review what happened, starting with why the chief assigned specifically to the case took off the day this all went down."

"They don't honest suspect you of helping Griffith, do they?" Mary questioned, indignant.

Marshall nearly smiled at the protectiveness in her voice despite accusing him not even twenty minutes ago of wanting to get her killed. "No. But there have been some… questions about my… performance since..." His voice trailed off as he nodded at Owen. "Stan's been trying to get me to take some time off. I guess he finally got his wish."

Mary rubbed her forehead, a million different questions running through her head. She needed to talk to Marshall, but clearly he was unwilling to do so with the kid in the room. "Do you think I could get a cup of coffee?"

"Uh, I'll have to make it, but sure," Marshall said. He stood and left the living room.

Mary settled Owen down with a television show before following Marshall into the kitchen. She sat down at the table, careful to angle her chair so that she could keep an eye on Owen. She waited patiently for Marshall to deliver her cup of coffee.

"I guess we're sitting here," he grumbled, sitting down at the table. He passed her the mug.

"Yeah, well, I clearly wasn't going to get any answers out of you in there," she told him.

Marshall drummed his fingers against the table. "Why do you need answers at all? We're clearly not friends anymore, Mary."

Mary shrugged. "Maybe I just don't like an unsolved mystery." She sighed when he didn't respond to that. "So, who is Owen? Delia wouldn't spill anything. I'm assuming that he's not actually your son since he was screaming about 'Aunt Abigail'."

"He's not my son; he's my nephew. My-" Marshall choked and tears welled up in his eyes. He cleared his throat to get a hold of his emotions. "My brother, Charlie, and his wife, Jennifer, were killed when a truck driver fell asleep and crossed the center line, hitting them head on. They were killed instantly and left me with Owen."

"Oh, Marshall," she whispered. Her fingers itched to comfort him, but she remained still. "I'm sorry." She paused for a moment, checking on Owen, who was engrossed in his show. "Owen's issues, then, are related to losing his parents?"

Marshall nodded. "It's... been rough. He was always such a sweet kid, but it's all different now. We've been through three nannies in the last six months. The last one quit this morning after Owen bit her for the third time. That's why I was here and not at the courthouse."

Mary shot him a sympathetic smile, a wave of gratitude washing over her towards both Mark's mother and her own. Between the two, she never had to ask for help outside the family. "That sucks, Marshall. You'd think being nannies and all, they would be use to kids acting out."

"Yeah, well, just my luck these days, I suppose."

"So, then, you and Abigail..." Her voice trailed off, leaving the unspoken question between them. Mary knew that she would have to tread lightly with this Marshall, who was just a shadow of her Marshall. His moods were erratic; he was much quicker to anger than he was in the past.

Folding his arms, he leaned back in his chair. "We shouldn't be talking about this. It's really none of your business."

"Marshall," Mary huffed before stopping herself. Ironic, really, that she was the calm one trying to draw him out given that one of the foundations of their friendship was the opposite. A part of her wanted to reach for anger, wanted to blow up at him for abandoning her and laugh in glee at the state of his life. He had chosen Abigail over her, but where was she now?

Mary's eyes met Marshall's. Despite his irate posture, she could see the hurt and vulnerability in his eyes. She had to make him talk. She owed it to him for everything that he had done for her when she could call him her best friend. "Maybe, it's because it's none of my business that you should talk to me."

His head tipping slightly, Marshall pondered her words. As much as he wanted to tell her to shove it, he had felt good to tell her about Owen and Charlie and Jennifer without having to fear that it would color the perception of how he could do his job as he did with Stan or Delia. Despite her insistence otherwise, Mary good be an excellent listener when she wanted to be and she appeared to be in that mood tonight. Besides, she would be gone by tomorrow.

"Abigail filed for divorce last month," he confessed. She patiently waited for him to continue. "Irreconcilable differences is what the papers say. I suppose that's true if you count not wanting to raise the only son of my younger brother a 'difference'."

"She didn't want to raise Owen?" Mary questioned, surprised. "I thought she wanted kids."

Marshall shrugged. "She did want kids, just not this one." Inside his head, Marshall beat himself up. "Okay, that's not entirely true. We were talking about starting our own family when Owen came to live with us. As you can see, he takes up a lot of time and energy."

Mary interrupted, "He just lost his parents!"

"She kept pressing me to start our family, thinking Owen would be fine in time. I finally told her that I didn't know when I would be ready for more children or even if I would ever be ready. I told her that Owen had to be my top priority and that it wouldn't be fair to Owen or to any other children that we might have to start this family until Owen felt safe and secure," he continued. "It was an ugly fight and she left the next day."

"And Owen's issues with her?"

Marshall mulled the question over in his head. How could he explain that Owen hated Abigail almost on sight? That there appeared to be little rhyme or reason as to why Owen had taken such a violent dislike to his aunt. "He's just never liked her. It got worse after the fighting started. Now, I can't even mention her name without that reaction."

Mary had no response for that. She knew from dealing with Teagan that there were some people that Teagan just never warmed up to. Of course, she also didn't bring anyone into the girls' lives, especially on a parental level as Abigail would have been. Sensing that she wouldn't get any more information out of Marshall, she changed the subject. "So, it looks as if you get to take some time off. Maybe, you can go on vacation? Go see your parents for a bit? I know-"

"No!" Marshall cut her off almost violently. Mary flinched at the fire in his eyes. "We absolutely cannot go to my parents." Marshall took a heaving breath to calm his self when he noticed the nervousness in Mary's face. "My parents and I are having a bit of a disagreement currently over Owen. My mother was very hurt that Charlie left him with me and not her and for some reason has decided to blame me. After months of her attempting to correct my parenting, I finally cut off contact for the time being."

"Ouch," she whistled.

He rubbed his face with his hands before looking at her miserably, "I feel like the walls are closing in on me."

Mary nodded in agreement before offering a suggestion that knocked them both. "Why don't you come stay with me for a while?"


End file.
